LONDON — Milk & Honey has bolstered its all-female board, appointing its first UK partner, Fiona Gildea, from Red Consultancy.

Gildea joins the B-Corp agency in the newly-created role of partner, strategy & purpose and will be joining the board, leading on social change and brand activism clients, with a remit to grow the sustainability and purpose offer. She is currently completing a qualification in Sustainability Business Management at Cambridge University, and is about to embark on climate leadership training with Al Gore.

At Red, Gildea had been client partner and lead strategist for client Huawei, and its youth brand Honor, since 2018. She has also worked in senior client services and strategic roles at MullenLowe, Karmarama and Ketchum, including for Unilever, Procter & Gamble, IKEA and Philips.

Gildea said: “I've been following Milk & Honey's journey for a few years now and am looking forward to being back in an ambitious environment working with such an impressive team. There's no doubt that we are in a transformative and challenging era, so it's a really exciting time for us to drive the climate agenda and social change, while delivering great work with genuine impact.”

Managing partner Kirsty Leighton added: “With every new hire we try to bring in new skills. Fiona’s sustainability credentials further enrich our purpose driven offer. Her creative yet analytical mindset is going to be a huge asset to the leadership team. I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved in our first three and a half years and look forward to our continued growth.”

Since lockdown the agency has made five hires and now has a team of 27 across London and the team in Sydney (founded last year), including Simran Maini-Hoskins, who joined the agency as an associate partner in July.

Other new recruits joining the company in September include Olivia Robinson, who joins as a senior digital Executive from Say Communications in the UK, while the Sydney team is set to double with Mairi Morrison joining as client executive and Ebony McCabe as head of digital.

The UK team also saw three promotions last month: Harriet King to senior manager, Badara Jeng to senior executive and Lizzie Elkin to client executive.